Kopete, The KDE Instant Messenger

Kopete is an instant messenger supporting AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber, IRC, Gadu-Gadu, Novell GroupWise Messenger, and more. It is designed to be a flexible and extensible multi-protocol system suitable for personal and enterprise use.

The goal of Kopete is to provide users with a single easy-to-use way to access all of their instant messaging systems. The interface puts people first, and is integrated with the system address book to let you access your contacts from other KDE applications. IM can be intrusive, but Kopete’s notification system can be tuned so that only important contacts interrupt you.

Kopete also features tools to enhance your IM, such as message encryption, archiving, and many other fun and useful effects.

Kopete supports all commonly used instant messaging protocols, and the Kopete team provides templates for developers to base new plugins on. Our API provides developers with many features to make it easy to support a new protocol. All protocols are plugins and allow for modular installation, configuration, and usage.

If you need help with any of its features, check the Kopete Handbook, accessible from the Help menu, or see the Forum and the Wiki links in the navbar. See the Contact Us section of the site to get in touch, or you can also always reach the team on IRC (irc.kde.org, #kopete).

Latest News

Buying a home? Selecting a surgeon? Trying to tell if she’s true? The FBI’s best profilers are standing by to help you spot, and avoid, big trouble.

trained in observation, investigation, and interpretation. By studying the facts of a case, inspecting forensic evidence, and reviewing law-enforcement witness interviews, profilers can often predict things about an offender long before he’s apprehended. At times, good profilers can appear almost clairvoyant, but it’s actually their highly evolved sense of awareness and deductive reasoning that’s at work.

Douglas and other adept profilers are about to teach you the same skills they honed at the acclaimed behavioral science unit of the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. You don’t have to be a crime victim to take advantage of this knowledge. Most of their techniques can be used to minimize risks that arise in all sorts of everyday situations.

Indeed, in a world that seems more threatening and filled with more people trying to take advantage of you every day, there’s no better time to learn a new way of protecting yourself.

What follows are descriptions of eight situations you may eventually find yourself facing. For each, our team has assembled a checklist of things to look for to minimize your vulnerability or risk.

Good luck with your investigation.

Find out if she’s cheating

You have a creeping suspicion she’s seeing some creep. Here’s how to conduct an interview that’ll make her divulge the truth.

Work from a “zero behavioral baseline,” advises Mark Safarik, a 23-year veteran of the Bureau who now runs FBSI, a Virginia-based company dedicated to crime-scene analysis and threat assessment. In other words, look for sudden deviations in her usual conduct: a new hairstyle and clothes, more concern with hygiene and fitness, prolonged absences, less interest in sex.

If enough signs exist, set a trap. Buy two romantic cards that are exactly the same. Send one to her at work, unsigned. If she’s having an affair, she won’t mention it, because she won’t know who sent it.

Now “play” the second card. Tell her you need to talk. “Make sure it’s after dark,” says Douglas, “because it’ll make her feel more relaxed.” Sit at a table on which you previously placed the second card. Don’t make it too obvious, but be sure she notices it.

This is called “introducing a stressor.”

Don’t confront her with the card. Instead, look in her eyes and ask, “Are you having an affair?” Study what she does next. If she repeats the question, drops her eyes, looks away, folds her arms, licks her lips, crosses her legs, or picks some invisible lint off her clothing, she’s stalling and is probably guilty. It’s time to go in stronger.

Ask the question again, this time glancing at the card but still not fully acknowledging it. If she truly has something to hide, she’ll become increasingly agitated.

Finally, to spark a confession, provide what FBI interrogators call a “face-saving scenario.” Say this: “I know we’ve been having problems, and I don’t blame you if you did this, but I just want the truth.” “If she’s being perceived as a victim,” says Douglas, who has used this technique to crack many criminals, “she’ll be more likely to talk.”

Don’t be misled by… her denials. “I’ve had people pass polygraph tests and still turn out to be lying,” says Douglas. “Those with a history of lying, like O.J. and Bill Clinton, are good at it. Other people besides criminals are chronic liars. Don’t make the mistake of thinking everyone is honest.”

See if your potential boss is a psycho

The company is booming and the benefits package is great, but will you really enjoy working for the guy behind the desk?

Case the company as you would a crime scene. How is it organized? What’s its mission? What’s the competition? “It’s a no-lose effort,” says Douglas. “The knowledge you acquire will positively shape the interview.”

When you arrive, notice if the boss’s door is open or closed. If it and others are shut, it’s a tense work atmosphere.

Be on the lookout for superiority cues (he keeps you waiting, he doesn’t rise to greet you, your chair is set lower than his). Sure, he’s the boss, but he doesn’t have to rub it in.

Look for the “Love-Me Wall” covered with diplomas, awards, and autographed celebrity photos. Robert Ressler, a 20-year FBI man who coined the term “serial killer,” says it’s basically a shrine that screams, “It’s all about me.” And if it’s about him, that means it won’t be about your needs or success.

Most important, ask yourself a few questions. Does he give me his full attention during an interview? Does he push aside the demands of the day, stop glancing at e-mail, and listen? If he does now, he’ll do the same later.

Don’t be misled by… family photos. “They don’t mean anything,” says Douglas. “I’ve seen pictures on desks of men with their wives, and they’re divorced the next week. Sometimes it means he’s trying to impress everyone by showing he’s a family man. This is called ’staging the office.’ He’s trying to project something he’s not.”

Discover if it’s a dream neighborhood or a nightmare on Elm Street

A house is only as great as its location. Here’s how to spot a troublesome neighborhood before you hand over the down payment.

When Douglas goes to a mall and sees children performing onstage, he watches the crowd, not the kids. “Good profilers learn to look away from the focal point,” he says. In this case, shift your focus from the property to what surrounds it.

Ask the local police about criminal activity. Some departments have online databases that are searchable using zip codes.

Beyond the physical appearance of the surrounding properties, look at the cars parked in driveways. Are they upscale brands or candidates for Pimp My Ride? Also look at the condition of the lawns. “Yards and cars mirror personality,” says Ressler.

Talk to the neighbors. See if they own or rent. Ask them about the best and worst aspects of living there.

Observe the real-estate agent as he’s showing the place. Is he in a hurry? Does he make eye contact when answering questions? Ask to see certain parts of the property again, but this time watch where he’s looking. (People often self-consciously glance at trouble spots.)

Stake out the area on a Saturday night. Sit in your car, roll down the window, have a snack, and observe. A neighborhood’s personality can change dramatically on weekends. (If someone calls the cops on you, it’s a good sign.)

Don’t be misled by… the owners or the agent. Remember, they want to sell. “Always work from a constellation of behaviors and observations,” says Safarik. “Don’t put too much importance on any one person or attribute.”

Look into the job candidate’s soul

He’s polite, professional, and highly qualified. But how will he perform on the job?

Employees are 15 times more likely to steal than customers are. So set up an integrity test. Leave a file marked “confidential” on the waiting-room table or a $50 bill under a magazine. Then ask the receptionist to watch if he bites.

Call human resources at his previous workplaces. Ask one telling question: Is he eligible for rehire?

Search him on all the usual Internet sites (Google, MySpace, Facebook). They may yield clues about his personality that he’d never volunteer.

Fifty percent of people lie on their résumés. If you notice discrepancies, give your prospective employee the chance to correct them. “Most people embellish. If you give them an opportunity to come clean, they will,” says Clint Van Zandt, a 25-year FBI veteran who now operates his own risk-assessment company. “If he doesn’t come clean, then he’ll probably exhibit that same behavior on the job.”

Find what FBI investigators call “spin-off.” “This is a person who’s not one of your target’s drinking buddies, who knows something about him and is willing to share it,” says Van Zandt. Ask if there’s someone at his previous company he didn’t get along with. Ask his references the same question. “You want to find at least one person who isn’t going to paint this guy with a smiley-face brush,” he adds.

Don’t be misled by… secondhand information. “People naturally filter information in a way that’s positive for them,” says Safarik. “This could bias you. Take note of what others say, but always draw your own conclusions.”

Decide if she’s the one

You think you’re in love. You think she’d make a great wife and mother. But don’t buy the ring until you observe her in these six situations.

Dinner with your family: They know you almost as well as you know yourself. Value their opinion.

Dinner with her family: Watch how her parents treat each other. Their relationship is her role model.

An evening of babysitting: Do you see any motherly instincts emerge? Is she patient? Does she have fun? Afterward, ask if she’d like to have kids one day. Does she reply directly and comfortably, or is she evasive?

Breakfast at a diner: Observe her interaction with the waitresses. “How she handles service staff is a good indication of how she treats others,” says Van Zandt.

Drinks with other women: Take her to a bar where some of your attractive female friends hang out. Is she jealous?

Hanging at her place: It’s filled with clues to her true personality — books, magazines, DVDs, art. Remember that reality mimics fantasy. Also, is she living within her means? “Financial issues are a major cause of divorce,” says Safarik.

Don’t be misled by… your unchecked emotions. Good profilers are able to detach themselves from circumstances in order to make an honest appraisal.

Cut open the surgeon’s record

You need a good one, but is the surgeon who cut out Uncle Tony’s gallbladder really qualified?

Google him. You’ll get a snapshot of his career accomplishments, community involvement, and any controversy that may surround him.

Give his waiting room the once-over. Is it clean and organized? Do the nurses appear in control, or harried? Are other patients growing restless? What does the man next to you think of him?

Give the doctor the once-over. Is he in good health for his age? Is he professional in presentation and demeanor?

Evaluate his time with you. Is he punctual? Is his first question about your medical insurance, or about your medical problem? Does he listen? Is he sincere? Does he profess to be able to cure anything, or does he recommend seeking other opinions?

Grill him. Most people are too trustful of doctors. Be sure to ask how long he’s been practicing, how many times he’s done this surgery, and what his success rate is.

Back in the parking lot, look for his car. Peek inside. If it’s in shambles, he may leave your innards looking the same way.

Find out which floor of the hospital he operates on, and visit it. Casually ask the nurses for their opinions of him.

Don’t be misled by… appearance. “What do bad people look like?” says Douglas. “They look like you and me. Ted Bundy was a good-looking guy, and he killed more than 20 people.”
Decide whether to go to bed with her

She’s been coming on to you all night. Is she another “fatal attraction”?

Measure her actions against the “zero behavioral baseline” you already have for such situations. Compared with other women, is she far from the norm in appearance, dress, and aggressiveness? If so, beware.

Try to find out if she’s on the rebound. If so, she’s vulnerable and more likely to latch onto you.

Is she already talking about the long term, such as vacations together? If so, that’s a sign of possessiveness.

Start talking to another woman and see how woman number one reacts. If she acts jealous even though she hardly knows you, her reaction will be even stronger after you’ve become intimate with her.

When in doubt, ask the bartender. Chances are, he’ll know her.

Don’t be misled by… her sudden interest in you. “Since when did you become Brad Pitt?” asks Douglas. “Great profilers consider motive — they walk in the shoes of whoever they’re trying to understand.”

See if the employee is a time bomb before he blows

He’s always bitching and moaning, and sometimes he even acts slightly threatening. Could he go postal?

“People are always leaking information,” says Safarik, “but others never pick up on it until after the fact. You see this at school shootings all the time. Profilers learn to stop and say, ‘What does he mean by that?’ ”
Look around his cubicle. If his walls are plastered with family photographs and shots of him fishing, he’s probably not a risk. On the other hand, if the walls are blank or push-pinned with complaints, or if everything appears obsessively neat, he bears watching.

Take him to lunch and listen to his complaints. Are they reasonable? Is he upset about one thing, or everything? Is it a situation, or a person? Does he obsess about what this person has done to him? (If so, pick up the tab to get on his good side.)

Note whether he’s speaking in the active or passive voice. For instance, if he says, “Someone ought to take care of that guy,” it’s passive. But if he says, “I’m going to get him,” that’s active, which elevates the level of threat.

Don’t be misled by… gut instinct. Note how you feel about the situation initially, but then put those feelings aside and objectively and thoroughly gather as much information as possible. Then return to your instinct to see how it fits in.

As Sherlock Holmes, the most famous profiler of all, said, “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”

The biggest draws at Festo’s Hannover Fair exhibits have been biologically inspired robotic creatures that show off cutting-edge automation technologies. Turning once again to nature for inspiration, the company’s engineers this year came up with robotic jellyfish that either swim or fly.

They may look whimsical, but the waterborne AquaJelly and airborne AirJelly make use of mechatronic design practices, control strategies and actuation methods that could have serious engineering implications. According to Markus Fischer, Festo’s head of corporate design, these robots have a degree of autonomy and adaptive behavior that “will be very useful in the factory of the future.”

Both the AquaJelly and AirJelly share a basic construction that consists of a sphere-shaped body with eight electrically driven tentacles for propulsion. Both run off rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and are powered by 3V coreless motors. Given the differing mediums in which they travel, the two robots do have different bodies — a laser-sintered pressure vessel for the AquaJelly and a helium balloon measuring 1.35m across for the AirJelly.

Their tentacle construction takes its cues from the functional anatomy of some fish fins. These bio-inspired tentacles consist of two flexible external surfaces connected by a series of internal ribs. When one of the surfaces is put under tension, the entire tentacle bends in the direction of the applied force — a phenomenon that Festo calls the “fin ray effect.”

Festo uses an electric drive, geared power transmission and linkages to actuate the tentacles. Alternating tension between the two external surfaces creates a wave-like motion that propels the robots through the water or air. Fischer describes the resulting movement as “peristaltic” since the waving tentacles seem to move by something like muscle contractions.

Whether they swim or fly, these two types of jellyfish steer themselves by carefully controlled weight shifts. As Fischer explains, their bodies contain a servo-driven swash plate connected to a four-armed pendulum that changes their center of gravity. “The pendulum shifts their weight, and they move in a new direction,” he says.

And for the AquaJelly in particular, that new direction is determined autonomously. This underwater robot guides itself with the help of a sensor array, communications systems and control software based on robotic swarm-intelligence. Fischer notes, for example, multiple AquaJelly robots can avoid each other in the water, using light sensors to pick up the presence of their tank mates. They also have pressure sensors that allow them to gauge their depth within a few mm.

AquaJelly robots also manage their own battery-charging behavior. They communicate with an in-tank charging dock wirelessly via ZigBee, for example, to make sure the dock isn’t occupied when they need to charge.

According to Fischer, giving these robots such a high degree of autonomy required a mechatronic approach in which the mechanical design, sensor engineering and control software were all developed concurrently. “Even simple autonomy is not so simple,” he says.

Born in 1867 and disappeared in 1925 while searching for what he called “The Lost  City of Z” with his son, Jack, Col. Percy Fawcett is the inspiration for the character Indiana Jones.

True to form, just like the character he inspired, Fawcett had an equal disdain for snakes.  According to The Museum of Unnatural Mystery

“Though not poisonous, the giant anaconda is probably the most feared snake in the jungle. Fawcett had a run-in with one not long after he arrived in South America. In his diary he noted: “We were drifting easily along the sluggish current not far below the confluence of the Rio Negro when almost under the bow of the igarit’e [boat] there appeared a triangular head and several feet of undulating body. It was a giant anaconda. I sprang for my rifle as the creature began to make its way up the bank, and hardly waiting to aim, smashed a .44 soft-nosed bullet into its spine, ten feet below the wicked head.”

Fawcett’s expeditions were mainly limited to South America, in countries like Bolivia, a wild and lawless place at the time.  For his now fabled final journey, Fawcett set out to find an ancient lost city, which he simply referred to as “Z” for simplicity.

After studying numerous manuscripts and legends, Fawcett became convinced that the lost city was located in the unexplored Mato Grosso region of the Brazilian jungles.  He even went as far as to leave a note saying that if they should not return, no one should come and get them lest they suffer the same fate as he and his comrades.

The fate of Fawcett was never rightly determined.  Since his disappearance there have been no less than 13 separate expeditions to find him, or his remains.  No fewer than 100 individuals have died on these journeys, with the last expedition in 1996 being held hostage by Kalapalo villagers before being released.

There are theories of course.  Some believe he was murdered.  Still, others believe he died of natural causes. Some even believe he is still alive, living in the subterranean city “Z,” founded by the Atlanteans.  According to The Guardian, there are correspondences which indicate he planned on leaving British society and forming a new one, with a new religion that even included worship of his son and an unnamed Sith, or female spirit.  Still, others believe he fell into unconsciousness, and when he awoke became king of a cannibal tribe.

Simultaneously fantastical, intriguing, and mysterious, the mythology surrounding this man is endless and the riddle of his disappearance is still unsolved (or at best, unresolved). For more info check out Wikipedia, The Museum of Unnatural Mystery, Catchpenny, and The Guardian.

Via The Presurfer

Free Photoshop Brushes

Getting the most out of your photoshop software requires plugins and tools like the following 300+ Free Photoshop Brushes that have graciously been made available for download by their authors. I have an enormous file of photoshop adons and plugins already but I’m always looking for more and the biggest hurdle is usually time, the time it takes to search the web to find them.

If you’ve designed or created a photoshop brush or set of photoshop brushes of your own and would like to spread the word for free I welcome you to leave a comment below, likewise, if you regularly use a set of Free photoshop brushes that aren’t listed here, please leave a comment and I’ll check it out.

Here is a list of over 300 free photoshop brushes that you can download.

Omega Brush Set by:Tonio

200 photoshop brushes for use with photoshop CS and above including grunge sets, vector brushes, tech sets, cloud brushes, fractals and abstract brush sets saved in 9 different photoshop collections by Tonio Etienne.

Fractal Brush Pack 2 by: Patio13

8 Photoshop Brushes for use with photoshop CS2 and above that are ideal for creating unique backgrounds and special design effects. Great for Lighting effects.

Paper Brush Set by: InObscuro

25 Paper Texture Photoshop Brushes for your CS2 or newer software. Creating papers, textures, crumpled designs, simple creases, neat borders and sharp corners couldn’t be easier. Thanks InObscuro.

Tattoo Photoshop Brushes by: Jason Gaylor

41 Tattoo Brushes for all versions of photoshop. Update: these brushes are no longer free however their cost is reasonable and the effects well worth it.

Blood Photoshop Brushes by:KeReN-R

14 Blood Photoshop Brushes bring a little gore to your ps artwork if you need it to make a statement. Not for everybody but impossible to find if you need them.

Wings Photoshop Brushes by:AquaLilia

4 Wings Photoshop Brushes. Since writing the Angel Wings Photoshop Tutorial last month you know i’m partial to wings and AquaLilia has done a fine job in free form.

Spiderweb Photoshop Brushes by:InObscuro

29 Spiderweb Photoshop Brushes from InObscuro. Extremely well finished spiders web photoshop brush set and they provide the perfect touch to a website template 404 page if you ask me.

Click Here For 300 More Free Photoshop Brushes To Download + instal guide.

Please share your favorites if they aren’t on here yet by leaving a comment and if you happen to like one of these sets or have done some photoshop work with them, I invite you to show it off in a comment below.

1. Drink a lot of water

The benefits of drinking water cannot be understated. It is used by the body to flush out toxins and other waste products. Water also is one of the best tools for weight loss, besides assisting in clearing your skin.

Drinking a good amount of water could lower your risks of a heart attack. A six-year study published in the May 1, 2002 American Journal of Epidemiology found that those who drink more than 5 glasses of water a day were 41% less likely to die from a heart attack during the study period than those who drank less than two glasses.

The important question to bear in mind is how much water should one consume? The amount would be different for different people, depending on factors such as the body weight, physical activity, health of the person, etc. However, you should avoid drinking water only when you are thirsty, instead you should make a routine – drink a glass of water first thing in the morning, another glass with each meal, one between meals and before, during and after a workout. Thus you should ensure that you do not feel thirsty.

(To get a quick and easy formula that tells you how much water your body needs, subscribe to the “7 Essential Secrets to Longevity” above.)

2. Have an anti-oxidant rich diet

It is a well known fact that the aging process is directly influenced by the food you eat. Hence you should consume a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, squash, berries, apricots, and pink grapefruit, as they are rich in anti oxidizing agents. The anti oxidizing agents or antioxidants as they are commonly referred to, protect the cells of our bodies from the damage caused by free radicals. This in effect means they slow down the aging process of the body and thus help you live a long, healthy life.

Also you must ensure that you get sufficient doses of Vitamin C & Vitamin E as these two are important anti-oxidants. The common sources of Vitamin C are citrus fruits such as oranges and lime, green peppers, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, strawberries and tomatoes. Whereas nuts & seeds, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, vegetable oil and liver oil contain Vitamin E.

3. Ensure that you exercise regularly

Exercise will not only help you lose weight and stay in shape, but it also helps in slowing down the aging process. If you exercise regularly, a number of ailments associated with aging can be reduced. These include insomnia, back and joint pain, flexibility, stress related disorders, weight-gain, etc. Also exercise has the added advantage of making you feel more energetic, preventing the incidence of high blood pressure, increasing blood flow to your skin, reducing stress and increasing your metabolism rate.

Another aspect of exercise – especially during the aging process – is that it helps you be more independent and increases your self-esteem, thus reducing the phobias/fears normally associated with aging.

4. Reduce stress

You would be familiar with stress and its harmful effects on the human body. However, you must remember that not all stress is bad! To a certain extent, stress is needed by the body to perform its day-to-day functions.

The problem arises when the stress level increases and the body is affected by its harmful effects. Hence in order to minimize the damage done to the body by excess stress, it is necessary to keep it in check. There are many ways by which this can be done such as deep breathing, listening to soothing music, meditation, yoga, etc.

Another way to alleviate stress is to learn the art of time management in your daily life. This will help you allocate some time for yourself on a daily basis, which can be used for practicing meditation or any other technique to reduce stress.

5. Sufficient sleep

The lack of sufficient sleep not only makes you age faster but also makes you look older.

When you do not get enough sleep, you feel tired and find it difficult to concentrate. Also you tend to be irritable and grumpy, as a result you may not be able to perform your tasks efficiently. The best way to avoid all the problems caused by lack of sufficient sleep would be to ensure that you get a good night’s rest.

The main problem is how many hours of sleep does an individual require? This figure differs from person-to-person and generally reduces as one grows older. A good way to check if you are receiving adequate sleep is to see if you feel refreshed when you wake up in the morning and you do not feel sleepy during the day. If not, chances are you are not getting sufficient sleep. In such a scenario, it is essential to sleep for some more time and see if the drowsiness reduces.

An army of inflatable, spherical robots might one day roll around on the Martian surface. Engineers who have designed the lightweight probes say they could economically explore vast regions of other planets.

“Our inflatable rovers are lightweight, travel great distances, use very low energy and will be fairly cheap,” says Fredrik Bruhn of Ǻngström Aerospace in Uppsala, Sweden, who initiated the idea that has now been developed by a team of engineers. “One battery charge will let such a rover travel around 100 kilometres.”

While researchers have proposed rolling spherical rovers before, no-one has previously suggested making them inflatable. With funding from the Swedish National Space Board, Bruhn’s team has designed an inflatable version with a diameter of just 30 centimetres when it gets pumped full of xenon gas from an internal cartridge on landing.

Crucially, when deflated and stowed, the inflatable occupies just half the volume a wheeled rover with equivalent sensing instrumentation would require, says Bruhn.

The technology would allow the descendents of NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers to carry mini-rovers of their own – dispatching them to scout out new sites of scientific interest.

‘Groundbot’ in tests

Bruhn is confident the idea will work because a larger (though not inflatable) version of the spherical robot technology, made by Rotundus of Stockholm, is already up and running. That company’s spherical ‘Groundbot’, is currently being tested for use in security and surveillance applications by the defence division of Saab.

“It can happily patrol large areas like harbours, travelling on snow, sand or gravel – it doesn’t matter what the surface is,” Bruhn told New Scientist. “As a sphere, only a single point ever touches the ground, so the friction is close to zero. It’s the most energy-efficient geometry for roving on unpredictable surfaces.”

The inflatable version of the robot would comprise an inflatable shell made of polyaryletheretherketone, an ultra-strong plastic commonly used in space flight applications that’s capable of withstanding high temperatures. Inside it, a hollow metal axle stretches from one side of the sphere to the other, supporting all of the rover’s electronics on a pendulum that hangs off it.

The pendulum is crucial because it is the sphere’s drive mechanism. When a motor forces the pendulum’s hanging mass to move forwards, the sphere rotates to meet the change in the centre of gravity. To steer, the pendulum can be moved sideways too.

Soccer-ball surface

The ball gets its energy from thin-film solar panels on some of the hexagonal panels making up its soccer-ball-like surface. To keep them clear of dust, an ultrasonic cleaner on the inside vibrates the shell, shaking it off.

Atmospheric sensors, cameras and grippers are stashed inside the hollow axles – the pendulum can allow the ball to lean sideways to sample the ground. In addition, the surface of the ball is coated with electrodes that are used to sense ground electrical properties like conductance and resistivity.

The inflatable rover then reports back to its orbiter or master rover by radio on any potentially interesting terrain it finds.

Bruhn’s design team, which includes engineers from Uppsala University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, US, envisages two landing scenarios. In one, a lander or large rover can land as normal and then inflate and deploy the spherical scouts when they are needed.

Gravelly surfaces

“They would make a very good complement to a wheel-based robot, travelling at up to 30 kilometres per hour on sand and loose, gravelly solid surfaces – and giving scientists many more chances to see where the best science can be done,” says Bruhn.

In another, less likely scenario, an orbiter arriving at Mars could inflate a flock of rovers and dispatch them into the atmosphere, with a heat shield to protect them from atmospheric heating.

The inflatable was originally dreamt up as part of the European Space Agency’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury in 2013, which was to have included a lander that would have explored the planet’s cooler polar regions. But the lander was cancelled.

Neither is there a berth for the inflatable on ESA’s ExoMars rover, also launching in 2013. Bruhn’s team is waiting to find out if ESA has another slot: “ESA is a slow animal,” he says.

By Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
Department of Animal Science
Colorado State University

Western Horseman, Nov. 1997, pp.140-145

Temple Grandin is an assistant professor of animal science at Colorado State University. She is the author of the book Thinking in Pictures. Television appearances include 20/20, CBS This Morning, and 48 Hours. Dr. Grandin has autism, and her experiences have helped her to understand animal behavior. She teaches a course in livestock handling at the university and consults on the design of livestock handling facilities.

Unique insights from a person with a singular understanding.

I have no language-based thoughts at all. My thoughts are in pictures, like videotapes in my mind. When I recall something from my memory, I see only pictures. I used to think that everybody thought this way until I started talking to people on how they t hought. I learned that there is a whole continuum of thinking styles, from totally visual thinkers like me, to the totally verbal thinkers. Artists, engineers, and good animal trainers are often highly visual thinkers, and accountants, bankers, and people who trade in the futures market tend to be highly verbal thinkers with few pictures in their minds.

Most people use a combination of both verbal and visual skills. Several years ago I devised a little test to find out what style of thinking people use: Access your memory on church steeples. Most people will see a picture in their mind of a generic “gene ralized” steeple. I only see specific steeples; there is no generalized one. Images of steeples flash through my mind like clicking quickly through a series of slides or pictures on a computer screen. On the other hand, highly verbal thinkers may “see” th e words “church steeple,” or will “see” just a simple stick-figure steeple.

A radio station person I talked to once said that she had no pictures at all in her mind. She thought in emotions and words. I have observed that highly verbal people in abstract professions, such as in trading stocks or in sales, often have difficulty un derstanding animals. Since they only think in words, it is difficult for them to imagine that an animal can think. I have found that really good animal trainers will see more detailed steeple pictures. It is clear to me that visual thinking skills are ess ential to horse training, but often the visual thinkers do not have the ability to verbalize and explain to other people what it is they “see.”

Associative Thinking

A horse trainer once said to me, “Animals don’t think, they just make associations.” I responded to that by saying, “If making associations is not thinking, then I would have to conclude that I do not think.” People with autism and animals both think by making visual associations. These associations are like snapshots of events and tend to be very specific. For example, a horse might fear bearded me n when it sees one in the barn, but bearded men might be tolerated in the riding arena. In this situation the horse may only fear bearded men in the barn because he may have had a bad past experience in the barn with a bearded man.

Animals also tend to make place-specific associations. This means that if a horse has bad prior experiences in a barn with skylights, he may fear all barns with skylights but will be fine in barns with solid roofs. This is why it is so important that an a nimal’s first association with something new is a good first experience.

Years ago a scientist named N. Miller found that if a rat was shocked the first time it entered a new passageway in a maze, it would never enter that passageway again. The same may be true for horses. For example, if a horse falls down in a trailer the fi rst time he loads, he may fear all trailers. However, if he falls down in a two-horse, side-by-side trailer the 25th time he is loaded, he may make a more specific association. Instead of associating all trailers with a painful or frightening experience, he is more likely to fear side-by-side trailers, or fear a certain person associated with the “bad” trailer. He has learned from previous experience that trailers are safe, so he is unlikely to form a generalized trailer fear.

Fear Is the Main Emotion

Fear is the main emotion in autism and it is also the main emotion in prey animals such as horses and cattle. Things that scare horses and cattle also scare children with autism. Any little thing that looks out of place, such as a piece of paper blowing i n the wind, may cause fear. Objects that make sudden movements are the most fear-provoking. In the wild, sudden movement is feared because predators make sudden movements.

Both animals and people with autism are also fearful of high-pitched noises. I still have problems with high-pitched noise. A back-up alarm on a garbage truck will cause my heart to race if it awakens me at night. The rumble of thunder has little effect. Prey species animals, such as cattle and horses, have sensitive ears, and loud noise may hurt their ears. When I was a child the sound of the school bell ringing was like a dentist drill in my ear. A loudspeaker system at a horse show may possibly have a similar effect on horses.

People with autism have emotions, but they are simpler and more like the emotions of a vigilant prey species animal. Fear is the main emotion in a prey species animal because it motivates the animal to flee from predators. The fear circuits in an animal’s brain have been mapped by neuroscientists. When an animal forms a fear memory, it is located in the amygdala, which is in the lower, primitive part of the brain. J.E. LeDoux and M. Davis have discovered that fear memories cannot be erased from the brain. This is why it is so important to prevent the formation of fear memories associated with riding, trailering, etc.

For a horse who has previously been fearful of trailers to overcome his fear, the higher brain centers in the cortex have to send a fear suppression signal to the amygdala. This is called a cortical over-ride, which is a signal that will block the fear me mory but does not delete it. If the animal becomes anxious, the old fear memory may pop back up because the cortex stops sending the fear suppression signal.

Fear-based behaviors are complex. Fear can cause a horse to flee or fight. For example, many times when a horse kicks or bites, it is due to fear instead of aggression. In a fear-provoking situation where a horse is prevented from flight, he learns to fig ht. Dog trainers have learned that punishing a fear-based behavior makes it worse. When a horse rears, kicks, or misbehaves during training, it may make the trainer feel angry. The trainer may mistakenly think that the horse is angry. But the horse is muc h more likely to be scared. Therefore it is important for trainers to be calm. An angry trainer would be scary to the horse. There are some situations where a horse may be truly aggressive towards people, but rearing, kicking, running off, etc., during ha ndling or riding is much more likely to be fear based.

Effects of Genetics

In all animals both genetic factors and experience determine how an individual will behave in a fear-provoking situation. Fearfulness is a stable characteristic of personality and temperament in animals. Animals with high-strung, nervous temperaments are generally more fearful and form stronger fear memories than animals with calm, placid temperaments. For example, research on pigs conducted by Ted Friend and his students at Texas A&M University showed that some pigs will habituate to a forced non-painful procedure and others will become more and more fearful.

Pigs were put in a tank where they had to swim for a short time. This task was initially frightening to all of the pigs and caused their adrenaline level to go up. Adrenaline is secreted in both people and animals when they are scared.

Over a series of swimming trials, some pigs habituated and were no longer scared, but others remained fearful throughout the trials. In the pigs that did not habituate adrenaline stayed elevated, which showed that the pigs were still afraid.

It is likely that horses would respond to different training methods in a similar manner. Horses with calm placid dispositions are more likely to habituate to rough methods of handling and training compared to flighty, excitable animals. The high-strung, spirited horse may be ruined by rough training methods because he becomes so fearful that he fails to learn, or habituate.

On the other hand, an animal with a calm, nonreactive nervous system will probably habituate to a series of nonpainful forced training procedures, whereas a flighty, high- strung nervous animal may never habituate. Horses who are constantly swishing thei r tails when there are no flies present and have their heads up are usually fearful horses. In the wild, horses put their heads up to look for danger.

Effects of Novelty

As a creature of flight, how a horse reacts to novel or unusual situations or new places can be used to access his true temperament. French scientist Robert Dantzer found that sudden novelty shoved into an animal’s face can be very stressful. A horse with a high-strung, fearful nature may be calm and well-mannered when ridden at home. However, his true temperament has been masked because he feels relaxed and safe in a familiar environment. When he is suddenly confronted with the’ new sights and sounds at a horse show he may blow up.

It is the more high-strung and fearful horses who-have the most difficulty in novel situations. At the show there are many unusual sights and sounds, such as balloons and loud public address systems, that are never seen or heard at home. An animal with a nervous temperament is calm when in a familiar environment — he has learned it is safe — but is more likely to panic when suddenly confronted with new things.

The paradoxical thing about novelty is that it can be extremely attractive to an animal when he can voluntarily approach it. A piece of paper lying in the pasture may be approached by a curious horse, but that same piece of paper lying on the riding trail may make the horse shy. People working with horses and other animals need to think more about how the animals’ perceive the situations we put them in.

10 Bring those little solar-powered lights in from the garden

No point letting the foxes get all the benefit of our space-age technology. If you’ve thought ahead and bought one of those solar-powered iPod chargers (and assuming for one moment that we’ve had some nice weather) then charge up your iPod. Because you can

9 Eat all the ice-cream in the freezer

It’ll only melt otherwise. And melted then refrozen ice-cream is horrid. While you’re at it, see if there’s any beer or white wine in the fridge. They’re just not the same warm and whereas, technically, you can re-cool beer you’re going to need something to get you through the next few hours

8 For that matter eat every biscuit, cake, and piece of fruit in the house

Even if you have a gas oven, there’s still no sense in cooking anything. You’re in the grip of a drama and it’s important to enter into the spirit of the thing

7 Wake the kids up

If the power cut happens after the hours of darkness, and let’s face it every blackout worthy of the name does, then it’s important that you don’t deny your offspring the character-building Blitz Spirit experience of being dragged from their bed and having terrifying M.R. James stories read to them by a torch-wielding parent

6 Play Snake on your mobile

Yes, it’s true that your mobile phone might be the only reliable alarm clock left in the house and that if the outage continues after bedtime there’s no reliable means of rousing yourself for work the following morning, but there’s no better use of your limited battery power than testing your reflexes against the ubiquitous and addictive Nokia serpent-steering game. Besides, you have got that solar charger haven’t you?

5 Think about any elderly or vulnerable neighbours you might have

Pop around and make sure they’re alright. Take a flask of tea over if you can. They’ll probably know some great old Vera Lynn songs you can sing

4 Indulge in a little amateur astronomy

If the power cut is widespread enough it should have a marked effect on the light pollution in your area. Get the whole family out in the street to look at the stars. With any luck someone else in your road will have had the same idea and you can enjoy a rare neighbourly bond as you speculate wildly about the possible duration of the outage

3 Read a book

If you’re on your own, you’ll find a quiet read by candlelight is a quite distinct experience from the snatched half a chapter on a busy commuter train. If you have any Dickens or Austen in the house, enjoy the classics the way their original readers did

2 Do all the sensible things: unplug computers, TVs, Sky boxes etc

After all, power cuts are fun at first but you don’t want to be dealing with a blown fuse when everyone else has their power back

1 Have sex

Despite persistent rumours, there was no “Baby Boom” nine months after the great New York Blackout of 1965. Nevertheless, a power cut is a tremendous excuse for an early night, and it’s not as if you can really read a book

In the fight against infection, the human immune system isn’t ready for a war.

Vaccines push the immune system to create defenses against illness, but they take time to work. A new process developed by scientists at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) and Emory University stands to revolutionize the process.

In an advance online publication in Nature, the researchers describe a method that can identify and clone human antibodies specifically tailored to fight infections. The new technology holds the potential to quickly and effectively create new treatments for influenza and a variety of other communicable diseases.

When an infection invades, the immune system goes to work manufacturing antibodies to fight it. Most of the antibodies created will have no effect, but a very few will bond to the invader and replicate to neutralize the enemy.

The new process develops a “smart bomb” for the immune system, using fully human monoclonal antibodies specifically designed to fight the infection without doing any harm to the body. The work was led by OMRF’s Patrick Wilson, Ph.D., and J. Donald Capra, M.D., and Emory’s Rafi Ahmed, Ph.D., and Jens Wrammert, Ph.D.

In the past, it took years of work and great expense to create what are known as monoclonal antibodies—lab-produced antibodies derived from a single line of cells. “It was kind of the ‘needle in a haystack’ approach,” said OMRF’s Wilson, senior author on the paper. “The problem is they couldn’t pick the cells that made the antibodies against the pathogens that you wanted to fight.”

A second method, making hybrid antibodies from mouse B cells (white blood cells that produce infection-fighting antibodies), is faster but more dangerous. If the proteins in the hybrid antibodies weren’t compatible, the body could reject the antibodies or react with them in unforeseen ways.

The new process doesn’t use traditional antibody derivation methods or human-mouse hybrids. Instead, the OMRF and Emory researchers isolated antibody-secreting cells (plasma cells) from people who had received the influenza vaccine, then cloned the antibody genes from these cells.

“We can recognize which cells are made and then make antibodies from them directly,” Wilson said. “It’s a rapid and efficient way to make fully human antibodies.”

While the research is aimed at combating influenza, it can be used to create treatments for any condition—such as anthrax or smallpox—for which there is already a vaccine. Antibodies might also be produced from the immune responses of people with active or chronic infections. This technology has the potential to serve as therapy for someone who is already infected or provide passive immunity to protect against future infection.

“Vaccines can activate the immune system, but they need time to take effect, and many offer less than 100 percent protection and carry risks of side effects,” OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D., said. “With further research and testing, this new method might allow a nurse going into the center of an outbreak to receive a shot to keep her safe from infection. Soldiers in the field could keep a shot of anti-anthrax in their packs in case of a biological attack.”

With more research, this new technology could also be key to fighting diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancer, Prescott said.

Wilson and his clinical collaborator, OMRF’s Judith James, M.D., Ph.D., are currently working to make more antibodies from other infections—including hepatitis C, pneumococcal pneumonia, and anthrax. They’re also seeking a partner to help produce large quantities of the influenza antibodies.

“We now have an outstanding opportunity to create antibodies against a host of diseases,” James said. “This discovery has great clinical potential.”